In a speech at Duke University last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that most Americans have grown too detached from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and view military service as something for "other people to do."

The legislation (SB-31) that allows Georgia Power to charge small businesses and residential customers for electricity in advance provides exhibits A to Z of Republican core economic and political values; family values are exhibited in the speaker suite on the right wing at Motel 6.

It's been two months since the day of a massive fire at J&J Chemical Co. in Athens and a large spill of dangerous chemicals into a stream feeding the Oconee River. A sickly sweet odor still hangs in the air along Trail Creek, and an unnatural turquoise tint still colors the water.

Sept. 23 marked the six-month anniversary of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the new federal health care law. The bulk of the changes go into effect in 2014, giving state and local governments, insurers, providers and other key stakeholders time to translate and implement the new policies.

MOULTRIE - Quite often I read advice on what to do when you encounter a dangerous critter. For instance, if you meet up with a grizzly bear you are advised to make yourself look bigger than you really are.

In most families, moms are the caregivers, and most moms have a medicine "box" or tray with all kinds of cures for middle-of-the-night pains and fevers. If it's not in the "box," a quick trip to a local 24-hour pharmacy usually secures the needed treatment. When that doesn't work, a doctor's visit secures a prescription to be filled at the local pharmacy. But for most situations a caring mom, Mother Nature and over-the-counter medications get children well and avoid unnecessary physician visits and expenses.

William Voegeli wrote a book about the ever-growing welfare state in the United States and throughout the Western world titled "Never Enough." In the tea party, we hear the countervailing cry, "Enough!"

This isn't going to please those boys and girls with the dark glasses and hearing aids who are always talking to their lapels, but my column commandos walked right past them the other night to attend the season's first conversation at the Carter Center, otherwise known as Jimmy Carter's out-of-touch-with-reality pontifications.

Articles by Section - Opinion

Twelve years ago, I made a decision to follow my head, not my heart, and put my career first. I'd just completed my first post-college internship at the Abilene Reporter-News in Texas and, having impressed my supervisor, was offered full-time employment at the end of my three-month stint.

Editor, On Dec. 16, 1773, demonstrators destroyed an entire shipment of tea in the Boston Harbor in protest of taxation without representation. Today, we have ultra-taxation with representation. At the rate that we are going, we will just sign over our employment checks and accept the spending money that our government gives us.

If you watched the Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago - and reports say that 114 million of us did - perhaps you saw a portion of the reprehensible behavior of Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin who, after scoring a touchdown, proceeded to mime pulling down his pants and squatting as if on a commode, before dropping the ball to the ground as if using the restroom. The NFL fined Baldwin $11,000, which has to be chump change to this boor. Astonishingly, the incident has gotten very little mention in the media. You can bet this kind of obscene showboating ...

The Georgia Senate had a busy week. We held numerous committee meetings to review legislation and listen to testimony either opposing or supporting bills being considered. The committee process is where the bills are vetted before being considered by the Senate, and it is a crucial part of the legislative process.

February 11, 2015|
By State Sen. Ben Watson
Special to the Courier
|Opinion

What mystical powder or elixir anoints our elected officials with the knowledge contained in the Encyclopedia Britannica and all the experience amassed by mankind since Adam and Eve? Apparently, the substance - whatever it is - imparts this knowledge and experience within the first 30 seconds of being sworn into office.